I am starting to kick myself for doing this.. - Page 2

..... put a wooden dowel through all 4 tiers. (Note: I use cardboard cake circles, so a dowel with a sharpened end will easily go through. Otherwise, if you're using the plastic plates, you'll have to drill a hole in each.)... take a 1/4" dowel, cut it about 1/2" shorter than the height of the stacked cake. Sharpen the end of it using a paring knife, pencil sharpener, whatever, and gently hammer it down through the cakes....

It is better and much easier on the server if you leave the dowel *taller* than the total height of the cake - at least 1" so once you are at the venue it can be removed. The *only* purpose of that center dowel is to help hold the tiers from sliding apart during transportation. Leaving it in makes it hard for the server to take the tiers apart Hide the hole w/icing OR a flower or leaf or fill in w/icing.

It is soooooo much easier to use fat drink straws (think McDonald's). You find the highest spot on your cake (really there should not be a 'highest' spot if you used a cake leveler on each layer), stick one straw *straight* into the cake and mark where it meets the icing. Remove and cut *ALL* straws *for that tier* the same exact size. Do not cut all straws used for all the tiersto the same height- just the ones that go into that tier - as each tier can be slightly different - Make sure when inserting them into the cake that they go in straight. Push it in a bit that is stands alone and turn the cake around observing if it is straight, then push in about 1/2 way more & repeat observation; continue like that until all straws are in straight.

It was HORRIBLE! But we (as in, me and another of the past employees that witch terrorized) laugh and laugh about it now

The bottom tier started to crack before delivery, and even before stacking, correct?

This may not be a support problem but a cake problem. The vibration of the delivery could have cracked that bottom tier even more and once the crack got far enough into the cake, the top tier became unstable because the supports below it were unstable due to the lack of cake supporting the supports.

Agreed - I don't think your cake was "soft" or you used a bad support system - I think your cake was was crumbly due to improper mixing, improper measuring or overbaking. Once cake starts to crumble or crack, there's no saving it no matter how much icing you slather on it - It will just continue to crumble. Then when you add dowels (wood, plastic or otherwise) it weakens the cake's structure further making it almost sure to fall apart leaving your support system still standing.

My thoughts anyway!

I meant cake circle or cake cardboard, not cake board.